This invention relates in general to the encapsulation of non-native data in a communications system, and in particular, to the encapsulation of ISDN data in a broadband network.
Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is a set of internationally agreed to standards specified in documents published by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). ISDN allows voice, data, and other applications to communicate over wide bandwidth networks. Typically these networks are telephone networks, and ISDN connections through these telephone networks are to end-users as well as service providers.
Modern broadband satellite communications systems are networks which can carry communications between any combination of service providers and end-users. In the past, use of broadband satellite communications networks has been limited to broadcast services, such as television; and to large service providers, such as telephone companies providing international calling services. Now, with the proliferation of broadband satellite communications networks, smaller service providers and even end-users have access to the large bandwidths provided by broadband satellite systems.
Modern broadband satellite communications systems generally are packetized systems, meaning that they carry data in packets, rather than in continuous streams. ISDN, on the other hand, is not a packetized system, and carries information continuously.
It is desirable for broadband satellite communications systems to be able to carry ISDN traffic which emanates from a source external to the satellite communications system because of the potential revenue generated from the sale of bandwidth. What is needed is a method and apparatus for efficiently encapsulating ISDN data in a broadband network which utilizes packets.